The Canberra Capitals were on the wrong end of a game-winning buzzer-beater from US star Lindsey Moore, going down to the West Coast Waves 70-68 at the WA Basketball Centre on Saturday.
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The Minnesota Lynx guard connected on a jump shot as time expired to deny Capitals forward Carly Wilson. Wilson was playing her 300th WNBL game, becoming just the 15th player in league history to reach that milestone.
Capitals guard Jess Bibby led the team with 15 points off the bench, captain Abby Bishop chipped in with 13 points and 10 rebounds while teenager Abbey Wehrung had the best game of her young career, scoring 13 points on 5-7 shooting.
The short-handed Capitals - still without injured duo Hanna Zavecz and Lauren Jackson - have now dropped to 3-4 on the season ahead of next Saturday's road trip to face the improved Dandenong Rangers, featuring Australian Opals star Penny Taylor.
Wilson was disappointed with the result after the Capitals appeared to turn the corner on their season with last week's 10-point win against the Waves.
"It's a really tough one and unfortunately we didn't play the way we wanted to," Wilson said.
"We were hanging on and it was a matter of time before we pulled away from them, but credit to West Coast, they hung around and pulled it off.
"It shouldn't have come down to where they could hit a shot on the buzzer, we missed a lot of easy shots and a lot of foul shots."
The Capitals took a four-point lead into the final quarter, but found themselves behind when Antonia Edmondson scored with 50 seconds on the clock to put the Waves in front 67-66.
Bibby got those two points straight back before Edmondson went one from two at the free throw line to tie it up.
After Bibby turned the ball over with the shot clock running down, Moore showed all her experience to elevate at the top of the key and sink a jump shot as time expired.
The one positive was the performance of Wehrung, the 18-year-old Ballarat product making an impact off the bench in the first of a three-year contract with the Capitals.
"There were times when we were struggling to score a little bit and everyone was standing around, and she pulled out a really great drive and a really great move," Wilson said.
"She was shooting some big shots for us and was very impressive for us today."
The Waves took an early 10-2 advantage before the Capitals went on an 11-3 run on their way to tying the score up at 15-all after the first 10 minutes.
The Capitals led 40-37 at half-time, falling behind in the third quarter before regaining the lead as Wehrung stepped up with some big plays.
But the Capitals paid the price for being beaten 35-22 in the rebound count and shooting only 64 per cent from the free throw line.
WNBL: West Coast Waves 70 (Cassie Harberts 16, Lindsey Moore 13, Sarah Graham 13) bt Canberra Capitals 68 (Jess Bibby 15, Abby Wehrung 13, Abby Bishop 13) at the WA Basketball Centre on Saturday.
